Protection 1
reviews and complaints

1.  My original security system was installed by Westinghouse Security       
     Systems in December 1996.
2.  Westinghouse was purchased by Protection One soon after.
3.  I had continuing service with Protection One until March 1, 2019
     always paying in December for the following year for monitoring and a repair       plan.
4.  My last payment was in December of 2018 for $334.66 which covered   
     service through December of 2019.  My service no longer worked after
     March 1, 2019 due to a wiring problem with my alarm system.  My system is 
     old and hardwired, so Protection One / ADT would not repair and wanted 
     me to update my equipment.
5.  I explained my husband & I were on a very fixed income and asked how the
     remainder of my December 18, 2018 payment would be credited for the new
     service (I was never given an answer).  I spoke with so many
     representatives o f Protection One / ADT.  I placed several orders and none
     were completed. 
     Delays were initiated by scheduling (ADT) and other departments.  I believe
     the scheduling department needed additional approval of the credits I had
     received on the pending orders.  I have been given the run around by ADT.  I
     started receiving collection calls for an unpaid bill for services from Dec 2019
     forward about January 2020.  I explained on all these calls that I didn't have
     service from March 1, 2019.
     I was told my service was never disconnected and that I owed the bill.  I
     called and spoke with ADT representatives and I felt none of the 
     representatives were really listening to me.  I believe when a customer tells a
     representative they "don't owe that bill and I haven't had service since      
     March 1, 2019."  They assume the customer is not being truthful.
6.  I have not had ADT security monitoring since March 1, 2019.  ADT is holding
     the balance of my December 2018 payment of $334.66.7.  My husband was diagnosed with dementia in October of 2017 and dementia
     is a progressive disease.  He places chairs, tables and whatever he thinks
     might give us security by placing these items inside the three doors that
     open to the outside.  He is 77 and I am 76 years old and we live alone and a 
     security system would allow us a more secure home life. 
8.  As recently as last week an ADT technician knocked on our front door and
     said he needed to come in and update some of our equipment.  We didn't
     open the door, we just told him through the door that we no longer had
     service.
9.  My question to ADT "What do I have to do to get service or a refund of my 
     December 2018 payment?"   No customer should be treated like this
     especially senior citizens.

      Frances J Pate
      3508 FM 528 RD
      Alvin, TX [protected]
      [protected] home
      [protected] cell  Call me on cell please
      ADT / Protection One account number  [protected]

I only wanted a camera at the front door. A new system was placed in my home. I was told that my bill would only increased by eight dollars. I was shocked when my bill went from $26.99 to $52.00. I was told that I need to pay early termination fee in the amount of $750.00. I was told if I do not pay it they would pursue it. I was with this company for 14years and that how they choose to treat me. I am not paying them anything. Let it go to collections. Bad business for Protection one.

I signed on to Protection One for a security system for my home twelve years ago. On installation it was found that the perimeter loops I had put in place when the house was built 31 years ago were sound, so they were utilized in the new installation of new magnetic switches at all doors and windows.

That system has served us well, so when we decided to upgrade, to add security cameras, we had Protection One add a doorbell camera and two other outdoor cameras as well. We wanted to upgrade so that we would have a system where we could remotely respond to the doorbell, as we were planning some extensive travelling.

Three years ago the three cameras were installed. We upgraded our cell phones as well, so that we could monitor activity remotely. Those cameras have never worked dependably. Since installation we have had approximately nine service appointments where PO technicians have tried to make the system work. I have also contacted PO by phone literally dozens of times.

Most recently I was told that the signal from the router was too weak. I added three Xfinity extenders, which did boost the signal but was told that it was still too weak for the doorbell camera ( rated 88 and at least 90 was needed).

My next visit was from a service professional who suggested that, on order for me to get any kind of system where I could monitor remotely, I needed to trash the cameras and replace with better ones. He suggested that I try 'RING'.

Last week I went to Costco and bought their RING doorbell camera and three remote cameras. I brought them home, installed them myself, and had a functioning, robust system within four hours.

On contacting PO I was told that I still had three years to go on a 'contract'. I asked to talk to someone 'higher up' about contractual obligations, and was told that someone would be calling me back. I'm waiting.

My home was hit by a hit and run driver on 12/7/18 and have been trying to get protection one to cancel their billing since that date as the alarm is not working nor have they attempted to repair it. My contract had already expired prior to this date. they refuse to send anybody out to talk to me or repaire it or cancel it all they want to do is bill and collect dues which I refuse to pay. i'm looking for someone to join me in a class action lawsuit as I see they have thousands of complaints against them .
Have you any suggestions

Leon R Standlee @ [protected]@yahoo.com

I have been a faithful subscriber to Protection one for nearly 5 years. It had been alright until I left home for a few days. Upon leaving I activated the system and it went completely bonkers. The screeching sounds came to life and I couldn't shut it off. With the alarm still shrieking I called the company and was put on hold for a couple of minutes until a man answered. He explained to me that my battery life was too low and that is what was causing my problems. He then told me I had to have a technician come to the house and diagnose it. I told him I was in the process of leaving for a few days and he told me that a technician could come out after I got home. He didn't answer how the company was going to "protect" my house while I was gone. He did tell me that I would have to pay for the service call and any parts necessary to get my system up. He wouldn't give me a price but I didn't care. I have a few months to go on this horrible service and have decided to cancel...if you can. I would suggest a do it yourself at home security system and skip a company that puts you in money chains for over 4 years and then screws you when you system goes bad...Drop the mic!

we were never told we had signed up for 3 years. we are renters and had taken the place largely because my 96 year old mother came to spend her last days/ years with us. we had no intention of staying 3 years and would have back away immediiately had we been told
then the alarm went off frequently for no apparent reason. the noise was so loud my son was cowering in fear and trying to save his hearing.
finally, we told them we would pay for the remaining months but insisted they take the system out. we paid every last dime and the rep cam and ripped the system out leaving big holes in the wall.
then new bills started arriving
when i complained the woman said it was a mistake.
a few months go by and new bills come. now they insist this is the last of our bills.
i will not pay this scam.
further, i go out of my way to tell people in the neighborhood not to get involved with protection 1.
they are liars, their system does not work well, and they have no moral compunctions about stealing your money
do you need any other reasons for not doing business with them?

Like others on here, I called to cancel my service on 11/23/15 and was told I needed to send an e-mail letting them know I wanted to cancel. I did this and never heard anything else from them. About a month later, I received an invoice in the mail showing I had a credit balance of $8 and change. I figured I would receive a check in the mail so I didn't do anything else. After another month and no check, I called back and explained that I had a credit balance and how would I receive the refund. She put me on hold for a long time and finally came back and said she had spoken with her supervisor and they would be issuing me a check. A couple of weeks later I received another invoice in the mail and it now showed that I owed $24.50. I called customer service and explained the whole situation and she said I was being billed through 12/23/15. I told her I canceled on 11/23/15 so I wasn't going to pay them through 12/23/15. She got very flustered, put me on hold, and a supervisor by the name of Camille got on the phone. I went through the whole explanation again and she said that in order to cancel, you have to provide 30 days notice and said they would have explained that to me when I called to cancel. I let her know that no one explained that to me and so I wasn't going to pay it, especially after being told I had a credit balance. She put me on hold for a VERY long time and finally came back and said she listened to a recording of my cancelation call and she verified that the operator never explained to me there was a 30 day notice required in order to cancel. She got very snotty with me at that point and said she would take care of the remaining balance, but they would not be sending me my credit of $8 and change. I told her that was fine. Today, 2/1/16, I received another invoice in the mail and it's showing I have a credit balance of $24.50. Normally, I would just ignore it, but I don't want Protection 1 sending me anything else or trying to call me anymore. I'm going to make one last attempt to get this straight, but I don't hold out much help after seeing the other complaints on here. I hope to never have to deal with Protection 1 again as it's starting to feel like harassment on their part.

Had service with Protection One for approx 20 years but then ran into hard times (ie lost my job). I continued service while on unemployment but then had to cancel because I could no longer afford it. I called customer service, paid my account in full and asked them if I could suspend or cancel my service temporarily because of my financial situation. The person I spoke with canceled the service for me. I asked the person specifically if there would be any further charges and was told no, my account was paid in full, there would be no further charges. Fast forwards about 3 months...I received a bill for approx 3 months worth of service. I called them and was told that it was for the prior three months and that I owed the money. I explained my situation to them again and told them what I was told when I canceled the service. They did not listen nor care what i was told but just insisted that I owed the money. After several more calls, I discovered that they claimed that I had to pay off my "contract". When I originally got P1 service, there was a contract but that was canceled several years ago when I briefly (about 1 month) went to another company. I do not have any recollection of signing a new contract and had been told that I was on a month to month basis. Not only that but when I returned to them, I did not get any new equipment or anything. Only the service. I have tried over and over again to get this resolved but they appear to care more about getting $100 then they do about providing their "valued customers" with any kind of customer service. They have even forwarded my account to a lawyer who has called and sent threatening letters. What ever happened to customer service? Prior to this incident, I was singing praises of their service. Now I will tell everyone I know to stay away. These people only care about their bottom dollar. For a $100 they have ruined my credit and lost all respect. You might say, why not just pay them off? Well, besides the principal of the matter, I really don't have the money. You can't get assistance to pay this type of bill and I don't have any credit cards that I can use. What little money I am able to scrape up ( usually people giving me money) I have to use for food, gas, or power & water. Anyone seen "it's a wonderful life"? Well, P1 is like "Mr. Potter". Money grubbing, unscrupulous, and lying people who don't give a rip about their customers.

When the salesman showed up I was having a cookout. He was a high pressure type and I fell for it. I signed up with the understanding that this was a one year contract but they would "like" for me to keep it at least two years. He also told me that I am having financial troubles and needed to cancel the monitoring service. I contacted customer support and was told that the contract is five years and that to get out would cost me a minimum of $750.

In that time I had the alarm go off a couple of times because my stove overheated and burned some food. Before I could cancel the alarm the service called (through the alarm box) and I told them everything was fine no problem. I still got charged $25. That was new. They never said that each and every call would cost $25. Isn't that what the service should cover at $45 a month?

Don't be scammed by this bunch. They will hook you with a high pressure sales and the promise of the moon. Then they will nickel and dime you. Even when you try to cancel they will pressure you not to and give you the run around.

Our former provider sold out to Protection One so we never had a contract with them, but have been with them for 6 years. During those years they have had to respond to one (false) alarm when a door was slammed closed by the wind. In the past six years their charge for this service has almost tripled so I decided to cancel. I had to talk to 3 different people for over a half hour to cancel. All of them trying to get me to not cancel. When they can't get you to stay then they tell you they require 30 days notice to cancel. Cancel what! All they do is answer the phone when my machine calls them. Then they said they would like me to consider coming back after I reconsider. GOOD LUCK ! Yes I'll come back after you extort another months charges out of me. RIGHT

About 6 years ago I had a security system installed in both my house and business after a robbery at my house. I signed a contract for 2 years with American Home Security for both locations. After a year I closed my business and notified the company. We worked out a deal where I would pay a little more each month to make up the business cancellation. About 3 years ago when I figured the contract was completed I called the company to see what the date was that the contract was completed on. I was told that the contract was completed at that time and had been completed about a month earlier. There was no mention that the contract had renewed and there was no change in the price to make up for the increase in my payments due to the combining of the contracts. About a month ago I changed my phone service to a digital phone service. When I did I got an error message of FC on my keypad. I looked it up in the owner’s manual and did what it said but nothing changed. I called Protection 1 and found out that the system was not compatible with a digital phone line. When I asked what it would take to make it work I was told that I would have to pay $99 for the equipment upgrade and another $10 a month on top of my current bill and would have to sign a new 3 years contract. That would be over $46/month. They are still charging me for the combined contract rate even though I only have one system and have for the last 5 years. I told the person I was talking to about the upgrade that I had been looking into another system that the monthly charge was $15/month with no contract required (SimpliSafe). I told him that I would have to think about it and would let them know. Nothing was ever said that the contract automatically renewed and that there was a $100 early termination fee. I called today the cancellation number on the bill to cancel service and was told that I have to do it in writing and pay a $100 termination fee. I was never told about the contact auto renewing especially since the original company that I bought the system from has been sold several times in the time that I have had the system.

I had an alarm system installed in my home with a 3 year monitoring contract which had initial expiration date of February 2013. The equipment was charged 1/2 at installation and the other half in 30 days. The equipment is fully paid off and only a short time remains on the monitoring contract. My home was totally destroyed in the wildfires around Norman on August 3, 2012. They are continuing to attempt to collect monitoring fees when there is nothing to monitor. Initially I was told they don't cancel contracts but that a credit would be issued against each bill until the contract expired and I would owe nothing. Now they want me to pay and in addition they are now harassing me about installing another system in my new home once it is rebuilt. They call me 3 to 4 times a day. This is the most unethical company I have ever had the misfortune to come across.

Added a second house to my account. I was extremely clear about this being an additional house. They shut my first alarm off (it beeps constantly). When I called I was told that it would be resolved in a 10 minutes and that everything would be resolved that day. Two hours later, I contact them to find out why my alarm is still showing "fault" and was told that I had a note on my account and I would be contacted after the weekend. I explained that this was not was I was told, got put on hold at least half a dozen times and, finally, told that I would be contacted. Two more hours and I was told that I would either have to take an unpaid day off work or I would have to pay them a service fee to have someone come out and correct the error that they caused. I have one thing to say - if someone doesn't have this fixed before Monday I won't be calling them to fix it. I will be calling Brinks or ADT to come out.

Echoing the same that many have posted here regarding the contract. I had them change us from monitoring with landline to cell phone only. When they changed this, I was re-upped for a new three year term. 18 Months later, I went through a divorce and had to sell the home and move to a rental property. I explained the situation to the rep, who said no one in the company was authorized to negotiate or work with customers in my position to reduce the early term fees. I offered to pay for the cost of the service call to change me to a cell only backup. No deal. $569.50 later I have to pay out *17 months* of the remaining contract. Heartless companies deserve unflattering reviews. I will make sure I follow through on the commitment I gave your rep, Protection One. I told him if Protection One is unwilling to put him in a position to negotiate on termination fees, I will make sure and post my experience to everyone I know. Protection One - If you'd like to change your mind, I'd be glad to change my reviews. My name is David Wallace in Dallas, TX 75214 and Account # ended in 6932.

As someone with a 10 year plus relationship with this company, which continued as I moved between two states, I strongly advise not ever doing business with this company. First, their contract is extremely one sided in their direction, and you should not sign it. Cancellation charges during the first year, automatic renewals for a year, etc. The BEST thing you can do is avoid EVER getting involved with them at all in the first place.
Second, their customer service is among the worst I've encountered. When I tried switching back from electronic billing to paper billing, calling their service number multiple times, they never helped me. Instead, they started calling me over and over to taunt me over "late bills". I've never had happen to me from any other company.
Third, after sending multiple letters cancelling my service, and paying substantial fees, they did not actually cancel my service! After all the letters I sent and payments I made cancelling the service, they called me. Though I said, no, we are done, their representative said "I understand", and let me leave you our 800 number in case you change your mind. I told him I was driving, and I couldn't write it down, but if he called me back I wouldn't pick up and he could leave that number. In the voice mail that was left, he told me that they would actually be continuing my service against my wishes! They have since called my home while the alarm was off and tried to report that a window alarm went off!
Trust me, these people are liars and they will cheat you.

I have been a client of Protection One for over a decade. In 2009 they offered e-Secure, which allows remote arming and disarming of service. I signed up. They installed some new hardware. The process restarted the contract for a 3 year period. I sold my home in 2011, with 10 months left on the contract. There is no "buy-out" option, I am simply responsible for the rest of the contract. I completely understand the terms of the contract. My issue is that the provider/client relationship is meaningless. For $450 this company has now lost me as a client forever.

My house alarm system is covered by Protection One. 3 or 4 months ago I told them I would like to cancel my contract since I agreed to have an automatic monthly payment out of my bank account and the bank said I need something from the company saying they are agreeing to the cancellation. I argued with the bank why I would need something from them when this is my money, to no avail. Protection One's employee said they would cancel it, up to now they are still taking money out of my account every month. What should I do to get this unethically operating company out of business?

OMG this is the most horrible company ever. The system does not work, it goes off in the middle of the night and when you call them they tell you to disconnect it. I have had their so called experts out to my home at least four times in the past six months and they change the box, installed other equipment and it still loses signal and sounds an alarm. The last time was at 1:00. They should refund me everything I have ever paid, and come get their garbage system out of my home. I have given them many occasions to make it right and they never have. Tonight they told me to take the system power off so that it will stop the alarm and we can sleep. Wow what a great solution, no security system so what am I paying of and where is the PROTECTION. They should rename themselves Number 2.

we got protection one security system for our house. the sales person never told us that contract was for three year and what happens if you sell the house or for some reason have to cancel it they charge a lot of money. they told us we can transfer our system but there is a catch to it and I will end up buying some more equipment. I do not want to spend more money in order to not pay the penalty. there must be some way. I will probably stop payment on the monthly payments unless they let me out of the contract or transfer without any extra expenses. we have adt
security system in the house we are moving to if they can not use that I will stop payment on protection one unless they do not charge any thing besides what I have already payed in the house we sold.

We have had Protection One as our security company at this address since October of 2009. We had then install a camera/DVR system and sensor system. We have paid our bills religiously, even though we feel strongly that we were overcharged for installation of both systems (the DVR had been consistently malfunctioning and the hard drive crashed the first week of December 2010). The alarm sensors were so poorly installed they left us in a very sensitive position, this was confirmed by an unbiased security expert from the Bay Area. Our requests to have the wiring issue corrected have been disregarded. When the DVR crashed, we were left without a recording or monitoring capability for over 7 days; this was replaced only when I threatened to not pay our bill. When the bill was paid, I received a letter stating that I was $1, 021.61 in arrears with the company and threatening collection. I demanded they provide itemized documentation backing their letter; they emailed me bogus billings and what appears to be a print-screen of their computer accounting (which does not print out). I have every bill and cancelled check to verify that I in fact am not in arrears nor have I received any billings for any type of additional charges that would have warranted this bill. I in turn called the company back, stated that I had in fact researched their company and found this to be a common practice with them, and that since I had over 31 years of legal experience under my belt, I will in fact pursue all remedy against their company under the laws. I am having their system pulled out of my office and shop, and hiring a reputable company that does not and will not engage in extortion.